What Matters Now

By now you have heard of the latest eBook from Seth Godin and nearly 80 other “big thinkers” providing a word or phrase to foster inspiration for the new year. (Godin released it late last year). Even though we are well on our way into 2010, What Matters Now is still relevant, timely, and inspirational. If you have not checked it out, I highly recommend downloading it.

Here is one of my favorite ideas:

Most
Imagine any and every field possible. There are so many brands, so many choices, so many claims, so much clutter, that the central challenge is for an organization or an individual is to rise above the fray. It’s not good enough anymore to be “pretty good” at everything. You have to be the most of something: the most elegant, the most colorful, the most responsive, the most accessible.

For decades, organizations and their leaders were comfortable with strategies and practices that kept them in the middle of the road – that’s where the customers were, so that’s what felt safe and secure.

Today, with so much change and uncertainty, so much pressure and new ways to do things, the middle of the road is the road to nowhere.

As Jim Hightower, the colorful Texas populist, is fond of saying, “There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”

We might add: companies and their leaders struggling to stand out from the crowd, as they play by the same old rules in a crowded marketplace.

Are you the most of anything?
William C. Taylor, cofounder of Fast Company magazine I enjoy reading and looking at this quote through a content marketing lens. In many ways, a content management marketing approach may help your company in “rising above the fray” and in creating competitive advantage because it provides your customers the opportunity to engage with your company or brand.